


Back In Time

by Minus5Black



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Prequel, Romance, Souls, Violence, back story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-23
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-09-11 11:33:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8978002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minus5Black/pseuds/Minus5Black
Summary: In the begging, there was one perfect being, a being who lived before life itself. This being created the worlds and everything inside them. Once its job was done and life had started it was no longer needed. So it split itself into seven parts so these parts could keep the balance in the word it made. This story is the prequel to Falling Down and the events that take place then. Follow the ancestors of Minus and his friends as they make earth a new.





	1. What Happend To Us

In the beginning, there was one perfect being. A being who lived before life itself. This being created the worlds and everything inside them. Once its job was done and life had started it was no longer needed.

So it split itself into seven parts so these parts could keep the balance in the word it made.

The soul shards of this being all had a task, a kingdom that it ruled and fueled. The souls of light, darkness, water, fire, earth, ice and air.

Together the souls kept the peace for many centuries. In their forms, they could not do much other than affect small spaces around them. They needed a form. So a form they took.

The soul of air took on the form of the first bird, to rule and watch over the skies and the heavens above.

The soul of the earth took on the form of the fist bear, to guard the soils and stone of the very ground that the being made.

The soul of water took on the form of the first fish, a being to guard the seas and the life-giving water that all life needed and soon what all life had within them.

The soul of ice took the form of the first arctic fox, a being to guard the ends of the world where warmth and light rarely touched.

The soul of fire took on the form of the first phoenix, a being of never ending life and the source of warmth inside the hearts of all things with a heart to beat.

The soul of light took the form of the first angel, a being to watch over the light needed by all to live and strive for this new and young world.

The soul of darkness took the form of the first demon, a being not of evil but of rest, a being of wonder and calm.

Together the first beings kept peace on the world and watched over the development of all that was made and born. They watched with pride as their creations thrived.

All until man was made.

When seeing the first man come to life, all the first beings felt deep pride. They didn’t know of the problems that would arise.

They made a plan to work alongside their creation to make the young world a better place for everything with a living breath.

Soon man became corrupted with the power the beings had. Fear ran through them all, these beings could destroy them because of what they could do and the power they held.

So together as a species all of the mankind banded together and one by one killed the first beings.

The world wept for the loss of the guardians and fell into a deep slumber, humans were left to shape the world as they saw fit. They had won against there makers. Things went into an uneasy peace.

Until the souls awoke.

Angered by the actions of their creations all of them wished to destroy the humans they were so deeply proud of.

So they did.

The war was long and many humans lost their lives. The war stopped when at long last the last of the humans and the souls fell.

In the blood and ashes when not a single heart beat a promise was made.

The young world would be left to grow on its own until humans could accept their creators back. When the time came and the world was ready to accept the souls of the first being then and only then the souls would take new forms.

They would come into the world as humans with no knowledge of what they are and they would take the journey though mankind and learn to understand their people.

They would grow and develop as a mortal, they would feel pain and love and go through hardships.

If only the beings knew what their souls would really be born into.

But this isn't the story of the decedents, this is the story of the first souls and the mistake they made such a long, long time ago.


	2. Welcome to Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luster
> 
> I welcome you all to this new world of ours where things are unknown and gods are real. The story of me and my family is a long one but it needs to be told.

“Shadow get your ass back here!” I yell into the woods. This is the second time today he’s just popped out of some dark crevice to scare me. Like the last time I had no time to scold him.

“Never in your life!” I can hear Shadow laughing from somewhere. He’s around here and I can’t see him. One day he’s going to get it.

I should explain some things. My names Luster, the soul of light. Shadow is my counterpart. The soul of darkness. He’s a lot more wild them me but I can accept that.

I’m about five foot five inches tall on the dot with Shadow being a towering six foot four inches. He makes sure I know this fact daily.

I’ve got solid white eyes with long waist length golden hair, I keep it as clean as possible. I’ve got a slim figure that I try my best to keep unlike Termer. He does what he wants anyway, and yet somehow he can figure out how to keep his body tone.

For the most part the souls and I have taken to using robes to cover our selves, each in our colors to represent ourselves.  Mine are a golden trim with a white base, light of cores.

“Shadow I swear I’m getting sick of your games.” I cross my arms and pout as his head pops out of a random shadow patch. His solid back eyes watching me back for any sign of aggression.

“You said that last time and the time before that and the time before that, you wont do anything to me sweet heart.” He smirks and I hate that he’s right, him and his handsomely sharp jaw line and his soft looking beard scruff. His clean cut yet messy black hair and his sly smirk and soft smile.

“Well maybe today I will do something to you for all your games.” I huff and make my hands glow with light, enough to scare him at least.

He just laughs and steps from the shadows. Looking down at me with that smug grin. “Why do I not believe you?”

He crosses his longer; more toned and defined arms and even pops out a hip trying to mimic my stance of irritation.

He’s way to attractive for his own good. I’ve seen him when he first formed too and he was just as good, a fully defined torso that you could lead your eyes along so smoothly, his face is that of a dark angle with his bad boy appearance and his attitude and yet with all this he still has a big sense of humor and makes it so no one feels left out of his jokes.

“Because you know I’m too much of a push over for that grin.” I mumble and I get that smirk of victory from Shadow.

“Exactly, now lets go find Flair and Aqua.” He turns around and walks into the woods with his robe trailing behind him.

“Aqua I can understand but Flair? Why Flair?” I question him as I stride to catch up to him, damn his longer legs.

“Because why not, I’ve missed him.” He shrugs and I get it. Flair left for a trip to check out how the core was doing and has been gone for at least a few weeks, Shadow misses him a lot.

Another thing about this brooding black mass ahead of me, he’s the biggest suck in the world and no one but Flair and I see that.

There’s history behind them, a long history. Darkness and fire are seen as bad, in any situation they are seen as bad and deadly things.

None of the others wanted to give them a chance because of the negative vibe they gave off so naturally they became close though the idea that both of them were made to destroy or be innately bad.

So it once got to the point where none of the others could find them on the planet because they would hide from us, us being myself, Tremor, Aqua, Tempest and Iciest.

After I stepped into the little budding relationship that they had made things dispersed. I had to remind them of what wasn’t allowed to happen, no relationships, no attachments.

We were one being in the beginning so I personally felt relationships between us was wrong, that was until Aqua told me off.

She told me that to keep one another apart because we came from the same idea was wrong, if anything we should want to get close to each other more so than anyone else because of how much we worked together in the past to make what we now all live on.

I took what she said to heart and maybe a little too much to heart, now I’ve fallen into the trap that is Shadow and Flair.

“He should be back any minute now.” Shadow looks around, as the grass becomes rock. The landscape dead thanks to the fires Flair lives with.

“He may be late.” I finally catch up to Shadow as he crosses his arms, tapping his foot at the idea that his Flair would be late.

“He wouldn’t be late knowing its me who’s waiting for him.” He huffs and I roll my eyes.

“He’s waiting for the both of us mister grumpy robes.” I poke his side and he hisses dully at me.

“Fine, fine, fine, but me first.” He looks back to the place where Flair is meant to come back from. It doesn’t take long till the ground starts to rumble and at first my mind goes to Tremor and Aqua.

Turns out it’s not either of them, the pit in the ground bubbles with molten lava and hands rise from the bubbling pit, skin not yet formed over the molten core. The body of lava crawls from the pit to reveal its bubbling body as its hands begin to cool and from the skin layer it needs. Finally as it stands skin and a long flowing robe similarly to mine and Shadow's forms. Shadow looks calm with this and I just back away as fast as I can and go hide behind Shadow.

From the lava, the being forms its features. Being made from pure fire and lava, at his core the shard he was made from.  He wipes the lava from his tanned skin and shakes it out of his fire red hair, bright crimson eyes shining with the heat from his soul.

“Where’s my little nightmare?” He smirks and opens his arms for a hug and Shadow runs right into the arms of his partner.

“Missed you Flair.” Shadow mumbles into his chest and all I can do is stand there stunned.

“Missed you too my nightmare.” Flair mumbles into his hair and looks to me with a little smile.

Guess Flair's back.


	3. The First Love, The First Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shadow
> 
> A look into my life will be enough to set the stage. An adventure starts and blood will be shed.  
> In the end, legends will be born.

I think I need to lay down what’s going on better then Luster did.

My name's Shadow and I’m the soul of darkness. Sounds like a bad label but I’m really not that bad. Everyone thinks that dark right innately bad but that’s not the case. The dark can be somber and calm too. Anyway, the earth is so new it’s still in diapers at this point, me and the other six souls watch over its development, how things are growing and such. It’s a dull job but someone has to do it.

Those souls chose new forms to take on because being animals is fun.  The one problem is that it’s kind of hard to function with paws.

So to fix that we too forms we could call anthropomorphic. No tails or ears or claws of course. Fleshier, soft, workable.

As I said before there are seven of us. Luster stands for light, Flair stands for fire, I stand for darkness, Aqua stands for water, Tremor stands for earth, Tempest stands for air and lastly Iciest stands for ice.

Between the seven of us things are kept how they should be, life keeps itself on track for the most part.

So what does that leave us? That question is the same thing we asked ourselves and the answer is still mostly blind to us but we found ways to keep ourselves busy.

And now here we are, Luster and I hugging my partner Flair. He won me over way to fast but we’ve been going at this partner thing for a few years now so I think its working.   

“May I ask where you went off to?” Luster looks at Flair with crossed arms as I nose my way into his arms.

“Center of earth, checking on the core we all kind of need to survive.” He rolls his eyes and gods did I miss his voice.

“Well, how is it?” She cocks her head to the side and if she wasn’t kind of part of this little partnership then I’d have asked her to leave.

“Hot.” He smirks and he still has his humor. This comment only makes Luster roll her eyes as well. Sad thing is because we both have solid eyes I can tell when she’s rolling her eyes but Flair cant.

“She’s rolling her eyes at you sparky.” I chuckle and I can tell Flair missed his nickname by the way he tilts his head to rest it on mine.

“Really Shadow, the point of having white out eyes is that no one can tell that.” She stomps her foot and crosses her arms with a huff.

“Just get over here and join this hug.” Flair opens his other arm not occupied by me for Luster to come join the cuddles. Accepting the open arm she begrudgingly walks over and plops her face into his shoulder.

“Now isn’t this better?” he looks down at Luster who only gives a little nod. Unlike her I gladly accept the attention and nuzzle into Flair's jaw for it.

“You really need to go on less trips.” I mumble and Flair shrugs.

“Only if you say so my little wolf.” Damn I really missed my nickname. I’m a sucker for him and his smooth talking and his sweet jokes, so is Luster but she won’t admit that. She thinks she’s too high and mighty for that.

“So better question, where are the others?” Flair looks around into the woods.

“Aqua and Tremor are off doing whatever they do with each other, Tempest is off being by his lonesome as normal and Iciest hasn’t come back from her trip to the ice caps.” Luster reads off in her snarky voice.

“Well that’s not too bad. We should go see Tremor and Aqua, I miss talking with my bro.” Flair lets us both go in favor of going to find his friends.

“I don’t blame you, being gone for a half year would make anyone miss your charms.” I chuckle.

“More like you miss my charms and won’t admit it.” Flair looks back at me and offers his hand. I gladly take his warmer hand and follow him like a lost puppy.

“That is where you are mistaken Flair, I will gladly admit I fall for your charms, I fall face first onto the ground. No saving my knees, they will be scraped up and my face won’t be much better but you’ll come and make me feel better.” I puff my chest out with pride hearing Flair laugh.

“Okay your right about all of that, maybe I just need to hold you so you don’t fall then?” he smirks and pulls me closer to him so he can scoop me up in his arms.

Luster laughs behind us from seeing the six foot four inch me being held in the arms of Flair who is just a few inches taller than me. The little squeak of surprise I make doesn’t help my case.

“Shadow, I hope you know I won’t be letting you live this down.” Luster giggles and walks behind the two of us so she can see my stunned face.

“…Please don’t tell the others.” I give her my best puppy dog eyes I have to get her to keep this to herself. To everyone I’m the big bad boss of shadows. Not a shred of weakness to me, that's until I Flair made me fall. Now he can make me into a love sick puppy in seconds. Luster uses this to her advantage.

“You’re lucky I like you.” She comes over and pats my cheek.

Flair is living this up at the moment. Laughing over Luster and I. I don’t mind since making him laugh is a good thing.

“So anything new while I was gone?” Flair looks down to me and kisses my nose.

“A new life form has been seen in some areas of the earth, they look like us to a point. Tremor thinks they may be new mammals.” I can remember seeing one myself. Small pink things that run around screaming at one another.

“I’ll have to find one and see them myself, anyone name them yet?” He looks back at Luster who shrugs.

“No one yet. They are just little screaming mammals for now.” She looks around as the trees slowly thin out. We’re heading into rocky territory now. Rocks and rivers make this area their home.

Tremor and Aqua live out here, the rivers bend to the will to the stone and the stone makes a path for the rivers.

Thankfully Flair puts me down before we find the two. It may not have mattered because as we turn the corner we find less then we hoped to see.

The souls of water and earth were under attack.


	4. Bloody water and muddy earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flair
> 
> It takes a special kind of soul to stand up for what is right, to stand up agents all odds. It takes a dark heart to harm the harmless.   
> It takes a broken mind to attack a god.

I left for a good reason, not like I wanted to. The core of the earth was acting up and being its guardian I had to go check it.

I can’t say for sure what’s causing the earth to act up. The others have been saying similar things about their domains.

Aqua has been talking about how the sea has been getting too rough, Tremor has told us how the tectonic plate have sped up as of late, Tempest has warned us about the winds shifting so the currents are pointing the wrong way.

Long story short. Something is throwing earth off balance and none of us have a clue.

After talking to Luster and Shadow I get the feeling it’s the new mammals on earth. The little pink things that have the balls to attack a god. I’ll give them that.

As the three of us round the bend into the territory of the earth and water deities, we see hell.

Before this land was lush, nature and water working together in such harmony that water could flow into the sky. We called it the sky falls, where the earth made paths for the water and where the water graced the soil their where plants of such color that they could be seen as gems.

This was made possible by the partnership of the water and earth souls. Aqua and Tremor. They love each other so much that the bond between earth and water became that much stronger.

Now all we see is shattered stone and muddy puddles.

“What happened here?” Luster covers her mouth as she looks around the broken rock field.

“I don’t know but I’m getting a bad feeling about this.” Shadow growls by my side.

“I can’t see the sky falls.” I mumble under my breath.

The three of us keep close ranks and approach the broken shards of stone. The way the stone has been broken makes me shiver, it’s unnatural. Jagged and white with the evidence of an impact.  Tremor wouldn’t have done this.

“This feels unnatural.” Shadow mumbles and kneels down to lift a small shard. Turning it over in his hands and inspecting the stone.

“I don’t know anything that could do this to Tremors stones, no animal alive can break them. Not like this.” Luster looks around for any sigh of movement from the two gods.

“We have to find Aqua and Tremor, they could be hurt.” Panic leaks into my voice. With or without the others I’m going to find my friends.

“I’m coming with you, we have no idea what could have done this. It could hurt you too.” Shadow puts a hand on my shoulder with concern heavy in his voice.  

“Then let’s go.” I offer my hand to him.

He takes my hand in his colder one. The bond we share enough to keep us safe.

“Luster, stay here. I don’t want you to get hurt.” Shadow looks back at her.

“Be safe Shadow…” She looks worried for her opposite.  The same thing I feel for Aqua and Iciest.

“I will.” He smiles softly to try and reassure her as he heads with me into a place that may hold a power strong enough to harm a god.

Shadow holds my hand tightly. Clearly worried about his friends and himself. I second his worry.

“Hey, Shadow, look at me,” I stop and face him. Cupping his face in my hands so he can look me in the eyes.

His lovely black eyes look deeply into my red ones for a grounding point where he can feel safe.

“I don’t want you to get hurt Flair, what if they hurt you like they hurt Aqua and Tremor?” There is a slight whimper to his deep voice. Thick with worry and fear for his friends and his partner.

“Shadow, we don’t know if they are even hurt. They could have gotten away, Aqua can handle herself well for a girl her size. As for me, I’m a big boy. I can handle myself in a fight.” I brush my thumb across his cheek to sooth his worry.

Shadow stays quiet for a second. Looking into my eyes like it was all he wanted to see. After what feels like three heart beats he reaches his own hands up to lay them over mine.

“Let’s find them.” There is new determination in his voice. That’s the Shadow I know.

“One thing I have to do before that.” I pull him slightly closer so I can kiss him.

The shock that spreads across his face is short lived before he smiles against my lips and kisses back. His colder lips fitting against my warmer ones smoothly. It feels like he was made for me.

It doesn’t last long but it’s enough for now.

“Now let’s go find out friends.” I’m the one to pull away and brake the kiss. I swear he whines when my warmth leaves his skin.

“That works.” He chuckles and takes to holding my hand as we walk into the broken stone field.

Both of us keep an eye out for movement. Aqua is on the small side so she might be harder to find unless Tremor is with her. He’s easy to spot. Like a mountain, you can’t miss him.

By now we are in the heart of Tremor’s territory. We haven’t seen head or tail of them yet.

Shadow kicks a little pebble along the ground. “We haven’t even herd them, think they ran out of here?”

“No, I don’t think so. Tremor isn’t one to run...” I choke on my words as something comes into view. It looks like a huge rose bud made of red sandstone.

When I mean huge, I mean more like it could be a new landmark huge. This has Tremor all over it.

“That’s them!” Shadow smiles and makes a run for the bud with me tailing behind.

“Shadow, wait up!” I shout back as he reaches the flower.

Looking up at this thing is intimidating and yet it’s so smoothly carved it could be a real rose bud for all we know. Giving a little knock I can tell its hollow, whatever is inside could mean good or bad for us.

“I got this.” Shadow razes his hands and tendrils just as massive as the bud lift from his shadow, like a kraken coming up from the sea. Textureless and black as the night sky. It’s even speckled with star like white spots.

He’s gentle with them, a hypnotizing dance as they feel along the bud for something to hold onto. Once they find the smallest of cracks they get to work drilling into it, prying the bud open from the crack.

Once getting in the cavity inside the bud a gurgling spring of water gushes forth and darkens the red stone of the bud making this stone rose take on a deep red.

Shadow bites his lip as he cracks the bud in two. The water floods the ground at our feet but that’s not the most interesting thing inside the bud.

Sitting in the center is Tremor. Huddled into a ball, holding something small, blue and limp to his chest.

Tremor has no need to breathe so staying under the water had no effect on him. The hunk of a man looks to Shadow and I with pure fear in his eyes.

“Help her…please,” he relaxes his posture so we can see the limp figure of Aqua.

The small woman is dry even from being under water. Her long blue hair matted with mud. Gashes and cuts litter her arms and legs. A large one on her forehead sill oozing the much needed ichor.

Her dress torn in so many places it’s a surprise there is any left to cover her pale skin. What is left now soaked in the golden substance.

Tremor has smaller wounds himself but nothing as bad as Aqua. His thick brown hair heavy with water. His robe also bloodied in many places. To our surprise a spear has been stabbed into his back that he has yet to remove.

“Please…” His voice comes out rough and he struggles to stand.

“Tremor, stay there. Flair and I are here now.” Shadow walks slowly to them so he doesn’t spook the earth soul. His tendrils sinking back into his shadow as he walks.

I’m not far behind but this gut wrenching feeling makes me feel like I’ll fall over at any second. Aqua is like my sister. She’s my opposite. Seeing her in this state I do end up heaving he contents of my stomach into the dry grass.

Shadow is there to help at least. He’s gentle to lift the body of Aqua into his arms and keep her close to his chest. “We’ll take you both to Luster, she can do more good then I can.” He brushes her hair out of her face and speaks in a soothing manner even if she can’t respond.

“Tremor, what happened?” I wipe my mouth and come over to inspect his back. The spear is in deep. I can burn off the shaft and have Luster look at it when we get them to her.

“The new creatures came to the river and started to dump their waist in it, food scraps, animal remains, fecal matter. Aqua got mad and sent the filthy water right back at the little creatures, they didn’t like that so they attacked her with sharp stones and sticks. She killed a few of them to defend herself but something hit her forehead and she went down.” He speaks softly as I break the spear off as close to the skin as I can.

“The little pink things did this?” Shadow looks back to Aqua and makes a little binding of shadows to bind the bleeding wound on her forehead.

“They aren’t helpless any more Shadow.” Tremor stands slowly with my help and points to a mess of red blood and bones. What’s left of anything when Aqua is done with it.

“She defended herself well.” I mumble and take another look at Aqua. Anger fills me fast, these things hurt my sister and they will pay.

“Flair, please, we need to get Aqua to Luster now.” Shadows voice clears my mind and reminds me this is more important at the moment.

“Your right, come on big guy, let’s get you some help.” I provide some support to Tremor so he can walk alongside Shadow and keep his eye on his partner.

It’s only when we reach Luster that Aqua mumbles one little word that makes my blood run cold.

“Humans”


	5. Bleeding gods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eleanora
> 
> You may know me as a guardian, a demon, an angel, but this is the story of how I called a god my friend.

Who knew a god could bleed. Sure it wasn’t me who did it but sure enough, I saw it.

It was this flowing molten gold, like the pure stuff pulled from stones. It had started to drip from the forehead of the blue goddess after Fredrick slashed at her, what good it did.

I should probably start this from the beginning.

My name is Eleanora.

I’m twenty years old and as of now my species hasn’t been on this planet long. We call ourselves humans, mankind to be really detailed.

Most of us have either light or dark skin, brown or blue eyes. Sometimes the rare green or amber.

As for me, I have olive colored skin, blue eyes and am a whopping five foot four. My hair is a light brown that goes down to my waist.

My mother and father live with me in this little village by a lake, a beautiful place with so much food and fresh water for us.

The only problem is the seven gods.

Since the first of our kind walks on the earth, the gods have been here. So far we have seen six but there has to be seven. We only see one when it snows.

Story’s got passed down from father to children about these beings. Malevolent beings who favor animals over us. They make life hard for us so it must be true.

The two main ones we knew where the sun and moon gods.

Every so often during sun up we could see this women with hair as gold as the sun itself standing on a hill top in full exposure of the sun, beautiful robes we could never copy.

She had lifted her hands to the sky and just like that the sun would fallow until it sat low in the sky.

As for the moon god, he was harder to find and held more stories. Sometimes called the master of nightmares.

When the sun is meant to set, rarely he can be seen in a ray of moonlight. His flowing black robe similar to the sun goddess’s.

The others have been hidden to us but we have seen their work. For example the village hunters found a place where water flows upwards.

This place is where, just short moments ago we lost so many to the two gods.

It all started when the hunting group left. They said it was to hunt for that nights meal but I didn’t believe them. I had heard that some of us had been dumping waist into the waters of this beautiful land and it had angered something.

I believed they went not to hunt but to kill whatever stopped them from doing what they wanted.

Me, being curious followed them.

They started walking away from our hunting grounds and made their way to the strange water.

I had no idea why till I saw her.

She was the most beautiful women I have ever seen. Long hair as blue as the water at sun rise. It flowed like water too. The same robes the others two used but in this ever changing blue, I couldn’t tell if it was a dark blue or a light blue.

Her eyes where the same, shifting between any shade of blue that could ever be made. Her body dainty and slim.

I could tell right then that she was the goddess of the waters.

Sadly where I saw beauty and kindness, my fellow hunters saw a monster.

They yelled at her, using words only the elders used. She had looked to them and looked confused. Eyebrows pulled together and her head cocked to the side as if she could not understand us.

I guess she didn’t after what happened next.

Fredrick, my chosen husband at the time decided to challenge her. Pulling his sword he swung at her. He only caught her arm in the attack but after that the soft, gentle air around her got harsh, deadly and angry.

She had hissed something at us through clenched teeth and lifted a hand, the pond beside her obeyed and a tendril of water as tall as ten men and as thick as one lifted. Rippling with the waves.

Fredrick and his men didn’t back down, they did not believe she could be a deadly being.

They were very, very wrong.

One of the other men lifted his spear and jabbed at her, getting close enough to cut her shoulders and arms. She clearly was angry at this and the tendril of water came crashing down onto him.

As if a solid force he was crushed, the sound of bones being compressed till they break is a sound I will never forget. The water didn’t stop there; it went about to the others. Moving about as if it was alive, slithering like a snake.

Fredrick was now as mad as she was. He went after her with another one of his men. Nothing could escape her watch and she glared at them with a look that could kill, and kill it does.

The man beside Fredrick exploded.

The sky rained with blood and chunks of torn flesh. It painted the trees and the ground, turning the water red.

Even with this demonstration of pure power Fredrick did not stop. His last swing landed.

Her skin sliced open from the sharp sword and gold flowed fourth. She stumbled backwards holding a hand over her forehead.

Her last action killed Fredrick the same way as the last. His blood cakes the land to this day.

From my hiding spot in the tree line I crept forward and her eyes landed on me.

I picked up a spear and hold it tightly. The light leaves her eyes and she falls backwards into the muddy earth as the golden blood drips down her face. The water tendril she made falls apart and floods the ground below my feet.

I held the spear close and crept closer but before I could touch the fallen goddess the ground shook with such force that I thought it would crack in half.

I was close to my guess. A huge man with a body built like a mountain rushes out from the trees.

His hair short and a dark earthy brown, eyes like amber. Much taller than me or any man I have ever seen.

At a glance his robes look the same as all the others, just a deep color of reddish brown with green accents.

He looked to the woman on the ground and looked as if he was just stabbed. A look of fear and hurt. He ran over to her and ever so genially lifted her into his arms.

He brushed a stand of hair from her face and kissed her head lightly before looking to me with an intense stare that would make a mountain crumble.

He growled deeply at me and his voice came out a deep feral.

“YOU!” He lifted a hand to attack me but I moved faster.

I threw the spear in my hand with just the fear for my life and somehow it struck his back and dug itself deep into his skin.

He snarled with pain and any attack he had in plan died.

Instead the earth below him melts to his will and a huge stone rose bud forms around them.

Then I stood in the bloody field where the bud sat, the earth god and the water god inside. Hurt but hopefully alive.

After that I went back to the village, the lone survivor of that attack.

After that my father came to see me. All I could tell him was that gods can bleed.


	6. Blood, love and loss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luster
> 
> Blood that binds us.  
> Love that holds us.  
> Loss that units us.  
> When we face what is unknown all three are known.

Well Flair and Shadow where off looking for our friends I had time to think. About myself yes but mostly about the changes I’ve seen in myself.

I used to be this uptight, stuck up bitch. I put myself before others because I believed I was better than them. I saw myself as pure when I was far from it.

I treated Shadow so badly; for all that I feel karma was not on my side. Something bad was going to happen to me.

It’s only when Flair’s voice calls out to me that I snap from my haze and look up to the place where grass becomes stone.

“Luster! Quickly, Aqua is hurt!” Flair rounds the corner helping Tremor walk. Behind them Shadow holds the slim body of Aqua.

“Put her down over here,” I gesture to a soft patch of grass.

I’m not the best healer of our group. That title goes to Aqua, but seeing how she is the one in such bad shape it’s up to me.

Shadow kneels down and lays her in the grass, smoothing her dress and brushing the matted hair from her face.

“She and Tremor got attacked by the little mammals that have been running around; turns out they aren’t as harmless as you think.” Flair helps the mountain that is Tremor sit nearby. Clear worry in his eyes, not for himself but for his partner.

“The wounds on her arms I can fix no problem, it’s her forehead I’m worried about.” I mumble and get to work with her forehead.

The ichor has clotted over the wound, it’s a good sign but it won’t heal further without help.

Unlike Aqua, who uses the water inside living tissue to heal wounds, I use light. Concentrated beams from the sun.

Using my nails I carefully remove the clot so fresh ichor flows.

Channeling light though me, I pin point it into my finger. Lightly dragging my finger over the wound starts to burn the cells, cauterizing the wound to stop the bleeding. It must be done slowly or I risk doing more damage than good.

Flair closely watches over my work well Shadow works to bind the wound on Tremors back.

“What did this?” I look to the three men before me.

“Aqua called them humans, the little pink things. Apparently they have made weapons out of rock and got too head strong for their own good.” Shadow hisses.

“Did you see any around her when you got there?” I try to keep up the conversation to distract the boys from getting too worked up.

“I wouldn’t have seen them if they stuck around, I made a capsule to hide Aqua and I after I got struck.” Tremor rumbles out, the worry still present in his voice.

“Then for now we assume that they have left us alone and won’t come back for a while. I’m guessing Aqua defended herself?” I look to Tremor who would have seen the fight or at least seen the after math first hand.

“She did, very well in fact. She took all but one down before she passed out. I stopped the last little thing from hurting her.” Tremor speaks with a soft voice.

For as big as he is, he is gentle as a lamb. Aqua is just as kind and caring, it’s what makes them so good together. That and the fact that both can defend themselves and work together without wanting to strangle one another, there’s that too.

“Well, the good news is that she isn’t actively bleeding any more. The wounds on her arms can heal themselves in no time now that her body can stop worrying over her forehead.” I brush Aqua’s hair from her face to admire the work I’ve done.

The wound won’t bleed anymore and her body can take over. Its slightly tinted gold from the ichor just under the thin, broken skin but it will heal. 

What matters is that her soul is ok, her physical body can heal.

The seven of us are nothing but shards, souls to be exact. Everyone has a soul, it is what makes every living thing different from one another. They are so extremely fragile and so the body is made to house them and keep them safe. Provide a vessel for them so to speak.

A normal soul is a beautiful thing if it can be called normal at all. Perfect balls of ever changing brightness, shining thee color of the souls kind. No two the same.

Because we are not like most beings our souls are also not the same. Where most souls are little orbs that can flex to some degree, ours are shards. Broken and fragile. This also means our bodies aren’t real. They are a vessel made by our souls that reflect our souls themselves.

This comes with pros and cons. One pro being that if our bodies are damaged to the point of death our souls can move on in the form of a soul stone. We get a second chance to survive. 

One con, well in this state of a soul stone we are helpless. Not much more than a beautiful stone.

With the damage done to Aqua it threatens her form. It would take much more then this but the threat is still real.

“She will make a full recovery with time.” I look up to Tremor who smiles slightly.

“Thank you, Luster. I was afraid I could lose her.” He gets up with Shadow to help and approaches us.

He kneels to my side and holds his partner’s hand in his own and brushes his thumb over the back of it.

“You can’t get rid of me that easily my little bolder…” Aqua’s voice comes out of nowhere, rough and tired but there.

She opens her eyes, at the moment a stormy blue.

“I’m a lot stronger then I look.” She smiles.

“I know you are my little pearl.” He kisses the back of her hand.

“Let’s get you two back to your place.” Shadow nudges Tremor with his shoulder.

“That would be much nicer. Thank you again for helping Aqua.” Tremor lifts aqua into his arms and looks to Luster with a kind smile.

“It was no problem. You two get better okay?” I get up as well and give a little bow.

“We will,” Aqua giggles softly and wraps her arms around Tremor’s neck as she is taken home.  

Shadow smiles softly watching them go, Flair hugging him from behind. \

“Think they will be ok?” Shadow looks back slightly to his partner.

“Shadow, she can take Tremor in bed. I think she will be fine.” Flair kisses Shadow’s head as Shadow’s face slowly brightens with blush.

“Did you just infer what I think you did?” I cover my mouth with a giggle.

“Yes I did. We all know that Tremor is the biggest of us and Aqua is the smallest, it’s probably something arousing for them.” Flair shrugs like this is a normal line of conversation.

“Flair, I love you but if you keep talking about Tremor’s dick and what he does to Aqua with it, I will hit you.” Shadow covers Flair’s mouth with his hand.

Flair just wiggles his eye brows at Shadow, most likely licking Shadow’s palm.

Judging on the face Shadow makes, that’s exactly what he did.

“Come on you two, the suns getting ready to set. You have a job Shadow,” I grab Shadow by the back of his robe.

He whines in protest.

“Just one more kiss?” He gives me the biggest puppy eyes he can.

I sigh slightly with a smile because who can say no to those.

“One, then you go help the moon.” I let him go and wait a little away from them to give them some space.

Shadow smiles wide before Flair wraps his arm around Shadow’s waist and pulls him flush to his chest.

Their kiss is slow and sweet. Flair running his hand up Shadow’s back so he can cup the back of his head and run his fingers though Shadow’s hair.

Shadow tangles his fingers in the hair at the back of Flairs head, as if this would keep them together longer.

“Shadow…” I clear my throat.

Shadow pulls himself away from Flair with a little whine in the back of his throat.

“Okay I’m coming.” He turns away from Flair with a giddy smile on his face.

There’s a slap a Flair smacks Shadow’s ass making Shadow squeak in surprise.

“You ass,” Shadow bite his lip and follows me off.

“You tease, have fun.” Flair waves at us.

“You both think with your second heads, I swear.” I roll my eyes at the two but can’t help but smile.

They have been apart long enough that all this was probably long over do.

I take Shadow to the peak were we make the sun rise and set and bring in the moon. Once at the peak I pat Shadow’s back.

“Have fun brother.” I leave him be so he can lift the moon into the sky.

“I’ll have the most I can, sister.” He chuckles and turns his back to me.

I wish I stayed with him that night.


	7. Gold blood, black sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eleanora
> 
> The choice to change you life comes in many forms.   
> My chance came to me in the form of a bleeding god.

“Come on sweet heart, I know he’s gone but that doesn’t mean you can pull back on our deal.” My mom drones on for the tenth time today.

With my old suiter gone the deal with his family is over, but that doesn’t mean I’m off the hook. I still have to bond with someone or my family won’t be able to keep going. I have to do this for my family, not for myself.

It’s all bull shit.

“Mom, please drop it. I don’t want to be bound to anyone, I haven’t even found anyone I like yet.” I cross my arms with a huff.

My mother’s face goes harsh and she grabs my arm.

“You will stop being selfish right this minute! You are our only daughter and that means it’s you job to carry out our family line! We will wait for your father to get home and he will deal with you.” She almost hisses.

I’m smart enough to keep my mouth shut as I’m sent to my room. Not like it will keep me in.

I sit on my bed for now and look out my window. It’s a beautiful day outside. The sun is shining, casting shadows onto the ground as it sets. The bird all flying into the trees to get ready for the darkness the moon brings.

It isn’t long till a commotion grabs my attention. The hunting group, now led by my father is coming back. They are dragging something with them. Something dressed in raven black robes.

My eyes widen as it clicks to me what…no…who they have. That’s the god of darkness.

I jump out of my window and run to the hunting group. Most of the village is cheering over this, I feel only a dark dread. It’s one thing to fight the gods and come away with your life, it’s another thing to capture one.

My father and two other men drop the unconscious god to the ground with a thud, the dust now settling. His body is covered with cuts that bleed gold, like drops of the sun itself leak from his skin.

The God groans lightly at the ground and still stays unmoving.

My father holds up his sword, now covered in the same golden blood, his back to me and the god.

“People of my tribe, I show you a god. I give you his body and his blood. With this I ask, who are the real gods here?” He speaks loudly, so much anger in his voice.

Well everyone’s attention is on my father and his men, I creep to the god. I get my arms around him and using all I have I drag him into the bush.

He is heavy, slippery with sweat and blood from the fight. I can only get him so far before I slip and we both go down a hill.

I pull my arms and legs in to try and protect them from the rocks and the thorn bushes that dot the side of hill. I don’t think the god is awake enough to do the same.

I come to a stop finally. I get up and dust my legs off just as the body of the god slams into me sending us both back to the ground.

“My father is going to hate me,” I rub my hand over my face and sit up.

The body of the god now lays half across my lap. I poke his side to see if I get a response.

He groans lightly, he’s alive at least.

“Come on, I need your help,” I get myself out from under him and stand, now trying to get him to stand.

It’s a test of my strength and my devotion to help this guy, mostly a test of strength because he’s heavy.

I get another groan but he at least understands. He gets onto his knees with my help and from there I help him to his feet.

I regret looking at him, seeing what my father has done makes me feel sick to my stomach.

There are three huge gashes across his chest, cutting away the robe that was met to cover him. Mud, grass, and stone cake the wounds making an infection likely.

His blood isn’t coming out gold any more, it’s now this black sludge.

“What have they done to you…” My own blood feels cold as it flows.

“F…Flair…” His voice comes out a deep rumble. I don’t know who this Flair is but they must mean a lot to this god.

“Come on, let’s get you somewhere dry so I can look at your wounds.” I rub his back as we slowly walk, half hoping that when he is back to health that he won’t smite me down since I helped him.

We stumble along till we find a cave, strange enough the sun isn’t down yet. It still is full daylight.

Setting the god down with his back to the wall, I look outside.

Sure enough there is the sun, in a position that suggests it is ready to set but can’t. Looking back to the god I think I know why.

My father must have attacked him well he was setting the sun, getting things ready for night. We broke the chain and now the sun can’t set without him.

“Oh gods, what have we done,” I cover my mouth and scamper back to the side of the god.

“You make the sun set…you’re the dark god, aren’t you?” I lightly touch his cheek.

I don’t get a response.

The only thing I can do now is work to make him better.

I leave him in the safety of the cave and go into the woods, nature provides all we need so surely it will provide again.

Finding a source of running water, I gather some in a leaf. From there I gather some herbs that my village uses to treat infections and some to bind wounds. I have a needle and thread on me so I can stitch him up at the least.

With my arms full I make it back to the cave with the never setting sun on my back.

“Okay, this might really hurt.” I warn him before I dip a cloth into the water and start to clean around his wounds.

He grunts and clenches his jaw but shows no other sign of getting up.

Once the wounds are as free of debris as I can get them to be, I start to crush the leaves I found into a paste. This I rub into the wounds to allow them to work their best.

Again, I get no more than a grunt from him.

I let him rest well I clean my hands, a mix of plant paste, mud and the gods blood. The water washes it all away for me.

Looking to the sky, I can’t tell how much time has passed. The sun is in the same place as it was before.

Letting out a sigh I head back to the god.

I kneel in front of him again and prepare to wrap his wounds so they are protected. It isn’t hard at least seeing how the cuts are clumped together.

I reach forward to cover them but a strong hand grabs my wrist. Looking up I’m eye to eye with solid black orbs that give me a glimpse into the deepest of pits where even light cant escape.

“What did you do to me?” He growls, not just a rumble in his voice but an actual growl, as if he was a beast.

“I…i…i.” I can’t find the words, it’s all stuck in my throat.

“Spit it out before I pull it out.” he sits up, bringing our faces closer together.

“My father attacked you and I got you away from him before he could finish you off and now I’m trying to make you better so you can set the sun.” I blurt out.

“Set the sun?” he looks outside to the light seen outside the cave.

He frowns further and looks back to me.

“Do what you must.” He lets go of my wrist and leans back to allow me to work on him.

I let out a little breath and work quietly well those black orbs watch my every move.

After this I’ll have a story to tell at the least, if I make it to the next sun rise.


	8. A bond made in words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eleanora
> 
> None of us knew the history to the place we called home. Our elders believed it was left to us by their ancestors, they told us the gods that walked our home now sought to take it from us. Now I learn the deadly truth. If I cant stop this then I wont rest until I make good on my word.

“So, do you have a name?” I look up from my work on the gods arm.

“I do, but I’m not telling it to you,” He growls at me.

“Ok then, I guess I’ll just call you something until you tell me what your name is.” I huff softly and pull the two strips of fabric together around his arm.

It has been a few hours since I’ve started working to mend the wounds of this god. He has refused to tell me his name and has the tendency to growl at me more often than speak.

His wounds don’t run too deep in some places and all I have to do is clean and bind them. The deeper one across his chest on the other hand, this one I can’t do anything to other then clean. Its deep and long enough that my make shift bandages won’t cover it.

“Are you done?” He hisses at me softly, just under his breath as he speaks.

“No, sorry, I just zoned out, didn’t I?” I look up at him again to meet those black orbs of his.

“Yes, you did. Is that something you do often?” For once his voice softens, slightly.

“Not too often. Sometimes I can catch myself and stop it so I can pay attention again. Sometimes I just zone out and come to a while after to find I’ve missed something. I can’t exactly control it too well.” I rub the back of my neck lightly.

“It’s not a bad thing, it just means you have a good mind.” He cracks just the smallest of smiles.

“So, since I’m stuck with you and your stuck with me why don’t you tell me what exactly you are.” My tone goes somber. No matter what he is, he can kill me.

“Your lucky I trust you,” He mumbles.

“I am the shadow, emissary of the moon. Keeper of the dark.” He puffs his chest out to make himself look bigger than he is.

“So, you’re a dark god?” I raise an eye brow at his antics, for a god he acts and looks a lot like one of us, a human.

“Not a god, a splinter of a god.” He points at me then his chest.

“Inside me is one piece of seven that made up the soul of a god, I guess you can call me a keeper if anything.” He shrugs.

I sit back now that his wounds are clean and bound, for the most part just listening. I guess its time for a history lesson.

“How did you come into being? If that’s not too much to ask,” I cross my legs to get comfortable.

“Its not too much really, I’m kind of glad you asked.” He rubs the back of his neck lightly. I get the feeling he isn’t as bad as he looks or acts.

“It all started before the earth was made. One being lived in the empty void that was once the playing ground for all other realms. It was a place of chance and new beginnings. The being grew board of the vast empty space they lived in and soon made a plan. They started by making a planet that would house their life.” He cups his hands and in the middle of his palms a little black orb forms. Faint details of land and sea on it.

“The planet that was made looked nothing like it does now, it was all rock and water. Primeval and new, as pure as anything can be. From there they made life. Plants where first. They sculpted each one into what it is now, everything was perfect in their eyes.” He smiles warmly at this little globe, like what he’s talking about holds grate value to him.

“By the time all this was made, they looked into the void and thought that it was a little dark. He made the sun from their hope. It runs off the hope this world has and the potential it has inside it. They looked at the sun and thought that it needed something just as beautiful, so they made the moon. Something to stand across from the sun and be its equal.” He looks outside the cave at the orange sky, the perpetual day.

“Then they hugged their creations in their arms and with the last of their energy, they died.” His voice fades slightly.

“They loved their world so much that they broke themselves into seven parts, seven shards of their soul that would look after their world.” The orb in his hands goes away and he places his right hand over his chest, where his heart would be.

“In their last moments, they made us. The keepers of this world.” He rubs his cheek lightly, a memory that may be too much for him peeking out from behind his walls.

“Water, a symbol of all that will live, calm and collect. Nurturing and kind. Found in every living thing, from the smallest of plants to the largest of animals.” In his palm forms a water droplet.

“Earth, hardy and stable. The building blocks for all that you see now and all that will be on this planet.” It shifts to become the globe from before.

“Ice, cold and reserved, brutal and yet so calm. Isolated from the others.” A snow flake then forms from the globe.

“Fire, the warmth inside every living thing, the molten core of the planet that keeps all life flowing. Destructive and yet the bringer of new life.” His smile comes back as a little flame forms in his palm in the place of the snow flake.

“Air, unpredictable, wild and free. The thing that fills our lungs and chills the ground during a hot day.” He chuckles looking up at the sky. “Quite a prankster too.”

“Lastly, light and darkness. The two who had the job of watching over the sun and the moon, keeping them moving across the sky.” He looks up at the sun.

“It’s my job to help the sun set and the moon rise at the end of the day. Now, I can’t do that job and the sun won’t set without me.” He sighs lightly and looks back at me.

“I want to help.” I sit up on my knees.

“The world needs the sun up to keep going but I don’t want to know what will happen if the sun never sets, I’ll stay by your side till your healthy again.” I smile warmly at him and that brings a smile to his face as well.

“My body will heal with time, it is nothing you need to worry too much about, it’s a war I fear.” He mumbles.

“A war, between whom?” I scoot closer to him since his voice got softer.

“your kind, the humans, and us keepers. The water keeper, Aqua, already was struck down along with her mate Tremor. We fear that humans are trying to kill us and take the planet for themselves.” He sighs.

“But won’t that do bad things to the planet? If the seven of you keep things in check then getting rid of you all would throw things into chaos.” Worry seeps into my voice, the earth is harsh enough with the keepers to watch over the place. Without them I see destruction.

“It might, the truth it we don’t know what would happen if we were killed. We are just souls inside a shell after all. Our souls will survive past the lifespans of our bodies regardless. My worry is that without us nature will go unchecked. Things won’t work the way they do now.” He shrugs.

“Then I guess I need to help you then.” I smile warmly.

His expression turns into one of surprise.

“What? you would go against your own species to help us?” There is heavy doubt in his words.

“Yes, I would. I’ll make you a deal. If I fail to help in any way then I won’t pass onto the afterlife until I find a way to fix what my kind has caused.” I put a hand to my chest, over my heart.

“I guess it’s a deal then?” He offers his hand to me.

“Yes, it’s a deal.” I shake his hand and feel this energy rush into me like it did when I saw the water god.

“So, does this mean I get to know your name now?” I smirk slightly.

He chuckles and shakes his head as if I just told a funny joke.

“You humans, Its Shadow, my names Shadow.”

And that is how I became friends with a god.


End file.
